RUPANI USES ‘R’ WORD AT VGGS, DROPS IT LATER

The Vibrant Gujarat summits were started to restore the glory of Gujarat that was lost because of the earthquake in 2001 and the post-Godhra riots in 2002, said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani while speaking at a textile conclave on the final day of the VGGS 2019. However, facing sharp criticism from within the party over invoking the riots at the event, he refrained from doing so in his valedictory speech later in the day. The focus of the conclave was ‘Exploring growth potential of textile for building new India’.

Industrialists BK Goenka, Kulin Lalbhai, Jaxay Shah among others were on the stage along with Union minister Smriti Irani and state minister of Women and Child Development Vibhavari Dave.

What Rupani said “Gujarat has become the growth engine of the country because of the successful experiment of Vibrant summit. Remember those days of Gujarat when the state was struggling after 2001 earthquake and subsequent Godhra riots in 2002?

Gujarat was facing a jamaat (community) which tried to defame Gujarat. It got back its glory because of this summit,” said Rupani. He added, “Godhra riots created such an image of Gujarat that no one came here. But now at every Vibrant summit, the number of foreign delegates is increasing. They also thank the state for such an attempt. The foreigners invest here because they have trust and faith in Gujarat and they see sustainability here. The investment done here shows the state has retained its prestige.”

‘BJP must clarify’

Calling the CM’s comments an attempt to defame Gujarat and Gujaratis, senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia told Mirror, “BJP must clear what the relation between Godhra and Vibrant Summit is. I believe both are related to Narendra Modi. It was following the Godhra riots that many countries including United States refused to grant visa to Modi. Let BJP also clear the reason why Modi was not given visa by many countries. I believe the party is trying to play the victim card by associating Gujarat and Godhra. Actually, Gujarat has no relations with Godhra riots but BJP has. It is BJP’s failure that they could not stop Godhra incidents and subsequent riots.”

Asked to comment on Vibrant

summit, Modhwadia said, “As per RBI figures, Gujarat is nowhere in top 10 states in terms of FDI in last 22 years. In IT field too, Gujarat is nowhere in top 10. As they don’t have development as an issue, they want to go back to their favourite issue every time. They did it again with such comments.” Modhwadia was whip in Assembly in 2003 and was made leader of Opposition in 2004.

Leader of Opposition in Gujarat

Assembly Paresh Dhanani said, “BJP government will not be able to get rid of the stains on their clothes. Once upon a time, BJP did politics in the name of riots in Gujarat, now they are talking about illusive figures in the name of Vibrant summit. As per official figures by government, Gujarat could get Rs 2.75 lakh crore investment between January 1983 and August 2016, out of which Rs 1.07 lakh crore investment came between 2002 and 2018. This shows that as much as Rs 1.68 crore came before the Vibrant summits. Gujarat used to be number one or two in investment but is now at fifth or sixth place.”

Interestingly, Rupani delivered the first speech at around 10.30 am in presence of Irani who had criticised Modi for Gujarat riots and had threated to go on fast if he did not resign in 2004. As per sources, the comments made by Rupani did not go well with the BJP. After the conclave, he was to deliver a valedictory speech. He went over the same issues again, repeating the point about Kutch earthquake; however, this time, he appeared guarded, carefully omitting any mention of the riots. Mirror tried to contact BJP Gujarat chief Jitu Vaghani and spokesperson Bharat Pandya but they could not be contacted.